Greece · 13th century
Egyptokastro ranks #8,987 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #127 of the 133 mapped in Greece. Founded c. 1250, it is older than 67% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 1091 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Patras, 25 km away. It is one of the 34 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Peloponnese. See how Greece compares in the castle statistics.
Egyptokastro, also known as Gyftokastro, the Castle of Arla or the Castle of Fostaina, is a castle-tower that survives to this day in Achaea. It is connected with the founding of two villages, Arla and Fostaina, while administratively it today belongs to another village, Flokas.
It is built on the summit of a low hill, at the present-day site of Potamia, on the boundaries of the local community of Flokas, where the small settlement of Zisimaiika lies. The provincial road towards Santomeri passes beside it. It is considered the best-preserved medieval castle in Achaea. Its walls survive, as do the ruins of buildings and cisterns in its interior.
It was built in the 13th century, most probably by Guy de la Trémouille or by one of the Aleman family. It is referred to as the Castle of Arla because Arla is the nearest and perhaps the older village, but it is also connected with the founding of Fostaina. According to tradition, the building of the castle was the reason Fostaina too was built. The castle is recorded in 1394 as belonging to the barons and in 1469 as destroyed; it is also mentioned in castle inventories of 1471 and 1467.
Other researchers claim that there were three castles: that of Arla, that of Fostaina and Egyptokastro, without any testimony or trace of a structure, and without this being documented from any source.
Machine-translated from “Αιγυπτόκαστρο” on the Greek Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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